1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for maintaining data in a distributed computing environment for processing transaction requests.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a common transaction model for Internet electronic commerce (e-commerce), a consumer retrieves Internet web pages (e.g., Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages, Extensible Markup Language (XML) pages, etc.) from a retailer's web site to select a product and then purchase the product online, typically using a credit card number. The consumer will retrieve one page, such as the product search and selection page, and select a product within the page displayed within a graphical user interface (GUI), such as an HTML browser, and then submit the page back to the retailer web site. The retailer web site will then transmit pages to the consumer's browser including fields where the consumer enters billing and credit card information, which is then submitted back to the retailer's web site to process the transaction. The retailer Web site will typically confirm completion of the transaction to the consumer's browser upon determining that there is sufficient inventory to fulfill the purchase and verifying the provided credit card number.
One of the noticeable effects of the above e-commerce transaction model is the transmission or network delays that occur when the data is transmitted back-and-forth between the consumer browser and the retailer web site. Such delays increase as the distance between the retailer web site and consumer also increases. The consumer oftentimes experiences this delay by having to wait for a submitted page including user entered information to be received by the retailer web site and having to wait to receive the next page that is part of the transaction.
For these reasons, there is a need in the art for improved techniques for enabling remote transactions over a network, such as commercial transactions.